The present invention relates to board mountable connectors and more particularly, to a mounting structure having keying features to be mounted on an edge of a board.
Board mountable connectors are known for example as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Number 10(1998)-134909. The connector of the above patent application comprises a plurality of gripper arm pairs, and the connector is secured to a circuit board by having an edge of the circuit board received in a receiving space formed by these gripper arms. To improve retention of the connector on the board, crush ribs are formed on the gripper arms.
In this example, the connector and the circuit board are secured by frictional engagement. Accordingly, as it is not a permanent securing means because, after use over a long period of time, the securing members may loosen. Further, in the case that the connector is intended to be provided with a keying mechanism, additional ribs that mate with the circuit board in a concave or convex manner are generally provided. In this case, it becomes necessary to provide additional space in the mounting area of the circuit board for the keying mechanism, making the mounting foot print larger. Additionally, when the connector has been mounted erroneously and needs to be removed and remounted, the crush ribs may have been permanently deformed during the first mounting preventing them from securing the connector during the remounting.
The present invention has been developed in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a board mountable connector having a high retention strength, while minimizing the required mounting area on the circuit board for mounting a keying mechanism.
This and other objects are achieved by providing a board mountable connector having an insulative housing having a plurality of contacts, a pair of mounting portions, to be mounted near an edge of a circuit board. The circuit has a pair of openings for receiving the mounting portions. Each of the mounting portions is provided with a mounting aperture to be penetrated by a bolt for securing the insulative housing the openings in the circuit board. One of the pair of mounting portions is formed with a keying protrusion on a contact surface that contacts the circuit board to engage a slot provided at one of the openings.